A Sense of Place: CITY SIDEWALK – hearing

A Sense of Place

In his essay ‘So:ba’, given at the International Haiku Conference (SUNY Plattsburgh, NY, 2008) and published serially in Frogpond, Jim Kacian discusses the concept of ba:

“If you look up ba in any Japanese-English Dictionary you’ll find it means “place” or “site” or “occasion”. And these are all true in the most general sense—ba is a pointer to a kind of awareness that something of importance is happening in time and space.”

So here we are…

In the following weeks we will get back to haiku basics and explore specific locations with an emphasis on the senses, and with the intention of improving our own haiku practice. Ideally, participants will select an actual location that they can visit, or a location from memory that they have visited in the past. Failing that, we always have our imaginations – and you’re invited to join in the fun! Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence. I will select from these for the column, and add commentary.

next week’s theme: CITY SIDEWALK – smell

We remain on city sidewalks – if possible, the same one as last week – but now we explore the sense of smell… the deadline for this theme is midnight Pacific Time, Sunday 09 December 2018.

I look forward to reading your submissions.

A Sense of Place: CITY SIDEWALK – hearing

This is an open call to readers of this column for the position of guest editor… if you are interested, let us know on a Contact Form! More information will follow later this month about what this column will look like in the New Year… but expect fewer poems in the column itself, and even more discussion in the comments section of the blog…

The following poems seem to be simple sidewalk observations, yet each contains elements that continue to ripple long after the poem is read… one idea leads to another, echoing…

busy street in Paris
only two people talking
in French

Christine Eales
UK

crosswalk wait –
the guy with earbuds
does a little wiggle

Judt Shrode

crowded street –
Grandpa on the sidewalk
talking to himself

Maria Teresa Piras

hopscotch
my mother’s footsteps
end the game

Roberta Beary
County Mayo, Ireland

city sidewalk
no one
calling my name

Ruth Powell

Here are the rest of my selections for this week:

nighttime city stroll
footsteps behind
speed me up

Aalix Roake

early jogging
running in the songs
of morning birds

Adjei Agyei-Baah
Kumasi, Ghana

tourist in my own town barrel organ

Adrian Bouter

evening rush –
clickety clack of high heels
on pavement

Agus Maulana Sunjaya
Tangerang, Indonesia

crack in the line
we don’t always sidestep
the cold queue sigh

(It doesn’t seem to happen so much nowadays, but I remember it seemed common practice to queue for ages outside shops. There seemed so many queues, but now shops are larger, faster, have more stock.)

Alan Summers

on the sidewalk
the echo of the rain –
soft applause

Alessandra Delle Fratte
Rome, Italy

Red kettle bells –
the homeless man gently holds
his homeless dog

Amy Losak

the sun at the peak –
on the pavement the noise
of roller skates

Angela Giordano

old receipts
in front of the shop window
dry leaves

Angiola Inglese

Quai des Orfèvres –
a musette waltz
of raindrops

Anna Maria Domburg – Sancristoforo

Beyond the time
Just on the street
A man plays didgeridoo

Anna Victoria Goluba

the sound of
hard-starting engine
rush hour sidewalk

Anthony Rabang

the silent eloquence
of sunset hues –
horns blare

arvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India

underfoot
the squeak of last night’s
snow

Barbara Tate
Winchester, TN

sidewalk bar
I toss a step
to the music beat

Blessed Ayeyame
Ughelli, Nigeria

city sidewalk –
imagining silence
in a wall of noise

Bob Whitmire
Round Pond, Maine

sidewalk performer
drumbeats
under the marquee light

Bona M. Santos
Los Angeles, CA

hailing
someone else’s cab
sharp patter

C.R. Harper

outdoor cafe
the first robin
entertains a crowd

Carmen Sterba

sidewalk traffic
languages merge
in a cacophony

Carol Raisfeld

under the lamp post
old soldier sings half asleep
Lili Marlene

(“Lili Marlene” is one of the most famous and popular songs in world history, but many people don’t know about it anymore.)

Charles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA

hawker street
the loud stir fry
in flambé wok

Christina Chin
Kuching, Sarawak

missing silence
she misses
the curb

Christina Pecoraro

the sound
of two cats fighting
alley brawl

Christina Sng

early morning jog
the clang
of commerce

Claire Vogel Camargo

carillon rings out
Christmas carols
icy sidewalks

Colleen Rousch

early rise –
in the city the sound
of silence

Corine Timmer
Faro, Portugal

rainy day downtown
the sound of water finding
its way to the street

Craig Kittner

inaudible in the city street
a pleading mouth
a rattling cup

David Gale
Gloucester, UK

after the rain the Maserati all guns blazing

David Jacobs
London, UK

sidewalk cafe
overhearing the whisper
of a sycamore tree

Debbi Antebi
London, UK

shopping downtown
Christmas carols piped out
to the sidewalk

Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California

morning rush
commuters speed-talking
on their iPhones

Devin Harrison
Vancouver Island, Canada

sidewalk prophet
shouts diatribe to heathens
people hurry past

dianne moritz

passing tram
carrying your shopping list
from my cell phone

Dubravka Šcukanec
Zagreb, Croatia

dumpster lip
the fussy calls of gulls
land and re-land

Erin Castaldi

fire drill…
the noise of three-thousand
teens on the sidewalks

Frank J. Tassone

a rumble
underneath the sidewalk –
CRACK

Genie Nakano
Gardena, California

snowy sidewalk –
nobody listens to
his tired voice

Giovanna Restuccia

strade deserte:
suono d’un sax in lontananza

deserted streets:
sound of a sax in the distance

Giuliana Ravaglia

sidewalk
symphony
orchestral ringtones

Greer Woodward
Waimea, HI

rush hour hush a hymn to snow

Helen Buckingham

Squish swish splash
a tidal wave
when cars go past

Helen O’Connor
Whitehorse, Yukon

sidewalk sale
the low voices
of a Christmas choir

Helga Stania
Switzerland

Black Friday
a beggar tosses
coins in the bowl

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

Christmas crowds
a sidewalk virtuoso
vying to be heard

Ingrid Baluchi
Ohrid, Macedonia

rustling sounds
of jacaranda flowers
windy sidewalk dreams

Jackie Chou

a pigeon lingers at the
chirping crosswalk*

(*some crosswalk signals emit chirping sounds for visually impaired people. This style is being phased out due to reports of birds imitating the chirps and confusing pedestrians.)

janice munro
Canada

whooshing air
the silent bicycles
of Amsterdam

Joan Barrett
Whitesboro, NY

the cold walk home
my silence broken
by crispy leaves

Joanne van Helvoort

overhearing
phrases on my walk –
found poetry

John S Green
Bellingham, WA

City sidewalk –
the voices of the sellers
among the horns

Julia Guzmán

after leaf blowers
and car alarms
birdsong

Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California

holiday tunes
piped outside
shoppers hum along

Kathleen Mazurowski

sunday matinee
the stage door’s
cold metal creak

Kelly Sauvage Angel
Madison, WI

two cars argue
over one parking place
holiday cheer

Kimberly Esser
Los Angeles, CA

Alone in the crowd
A child cries
Mother

Kimberly Spring
Lakewood, Ohio

doorway keypads
the sound of home
as algorithm

Laurie Greer
Washington DC

on the sidewalk
so many languages
I don’t understand

Lori Zajkowski
New York, NY

frosty moon…
a bottle rolls down
from sidewalk

gelida luna … s’infrange una bottiglia / sul marciapiede

Lucia Cardillo

deep
into city streets
the call of seagulls

Lucy Whitehead
Essex, UK

two buckets
and a three string violin
standing room only

m. shane pruett
salem, OR, USA

tram stop
chatter of tourists
undecided

Madhuri Pillai

strains of Messiah
coming from way down the street
flash mob!

Marcyn Del Clements
Claremont, California, USA

sidewalk café
eavesdropping
at the next table

Margaret Walker

the singsong
of the taralli seller
Napoli sidewalk

Margherita Petriccione

morning walk
the city awakens
with a yawn

Margo Williams
Stayton, Oregon

water noise –
on the wet sidewalk
my new boots

Maria Teresa Sisti

Parisian dawn
from a bistro’s swing door
la vie en rose

Marietta McGregor

early hours
the click-clack of stilettos
on the sidewalk

Marina Bellini

above the click
of designer boots
“Spare change?”

Marita Gargiulo

broken glass
cracking on concrete
splintering alarm

Mark Gilbert
UK

pouring rain
a crow’s caw soaks
into my ears

Martha Magenta
England, UK

early morning
an archaeological dig
under the skyscraper

Megumi Shibuya
Japan

Winter sidewalk –
the scrape
of the snow shovel

michael ceraolo
South Euclid, Ohio

Rodeo Drive
an endless chatter of
self obsession

Michael Henry Lee

double heelflip –
the sound of skateboards
chipping the sidewalk

Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA

city sidewalk…
the bow and scrape
of double Dutch

Michele L. Harvey

old inn
clip clop of
brewer’s dray

Mike Gallagher
Ireland

sidewalk sale
the shrill voice
of a hawker

Mohammad Azim Khan
Peshawar Pakistan

Hope in an inhaled breath
Indifferent footsteps pass
the weight of a sigh

Molly Hogan

roadside path…
a toddler jumping
on her chu chu shoes

Muskaan Ahuja
Chandigarh, India

ice and snow
the sidewalks crunch
under my boots

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio

the human flow
against a street busker’s blues –
rush hour in town

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

morning rush
the high heels of shoes
cross the street

Neni Rusliana
Indonesia

the crimson twilight
beggar with harmonica
a song out of tune

Nuky Kristijono
Indonesia

Christmas lights
the sound of rain pitter-
pattering on the sidewalk

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland

sidewalk sale
the vendor thanks me
in his language

Pat Davis
Pembroke, NH

clatter of heels and traffic
unheard by most…
smartphones

Paul Geiger

urban ibis
scrape of beak
on metal bin

Pauline O’Carolan

the dog and I walk past your silence again

Philip Whitley
SC, USA

blues beat
the bar’s door
swings open

Pris Campbell

city sidewalk
the subway grates
hissing steam

Rachel Sutcliffe

improvised cradle
jingling with bells,
she asks for alms

Radhamani sarma

Silent night…
the torn cords of
the street musician

Radostina Dragostinova
Bulgaria

spring break
her rollerblades clack
over each crack

Randy Brooks

sidewalk bargains –
the tinkling laughs
of shoppers

Rashmi Vesa
Bengaluru, India

joyful noise
from the Black church
San Francisco street

Rehn Kovacic

his hands
holding her face –
moon song

Réka Nyitrai

excuse me ma’am
can you spare some change…
high heels click on cold cement

Richard Grahn

post office facade –
swish of a sleeping bag
at night

robyn brooks
usa

between the brakes…
and the sound of shatter glass
a breath withheld

ron scully

the slap slap slap
of running shoes
in sync with my breathing

Ronald K. Craig
Batavia, OH USA

village festival –
the sound of a band
makes me happy

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

Sul marciapiede
calpestio di foglie
Suoni d’autunno

On the sidewalk
trampling of leaves
Autumn sounds

Rosaria Lo Bono

jackhammers and beeping trucks
the sidewalk mime pretends
to escape

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA

evening boulevard
the ringing of keys
in the coat pocket

Serhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, UA

birdsong stops
at the corner
a jackhammer

Sidney Bending
Victoria, BC, Canada

notting hill
to dance all alone
on a rocking paver

simonj
UK

Sunday morning
the sound of roller skates
behind my back

Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia

city sidewalk
the sound of cars honking
morning migration

Stephen A. Peters

sidewalk beggar
tossing coins
in the bowl

Sudebi Singha
India

downpour
streets amass
with umbrellas and mime

Susan Mallernee

remembering
Gene Kelly in the rain
I start to hum

Susan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA

empty hat
a street musician
thanks me

Tia Haynes
Lakewood, Ohio, USA

whistling loudly
off key to no known tune
sidewalk minstrel

Tim Heaney
Johns Creek, Ga.

city sidewalk…
a man plays the violin
cold night

Tomoko Nakata
Kanagawa, Japan

christmas eve…
kids ringing bells
on the sidewalk

Tsanka Shishkova

hearing aids off –
workers jackhammering
the sidewalk

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA

tending street plantings
homeless woman
sings

Valorie Broadhurst Woerdehoff

morning walk
honking cars drown
the birdsong

Vandana Parashar

“No Horn” zone
varying pitch of footfalls
on mute sidewalk

Vishnu Kapoor

city sidewalk
the pleadings
of a beggar

Willie Bongcaron

Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She is Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada and an Associate Member of the League of Canadian Poets. She recently co-edited an anthology of crime-themed haiku called Body of Evidence: a collection of killer ’ku.

Thanks Kj Munro for such an awsome oficina our different está of witnesses the Worlds.Thanks for having selected my haiku. Thanks to every contribuir who enriches my senses sharing them.
Córdoba, Argentina

Thank You Kathy for the selection, makes one read,think ,introspect.The overwhelming reality of urban life is in all its facets is vast, varied across various cultures,the selection provides this cross sectional glimpse.

The loneliness of the aged and their deep sense of alienation is one of the saddest truths of urban living, the poem that impacted me most was-

crowded street
Grandpa on the sidewalk
talking to himself
Maria Teresa Piras

The words are poignant, depicts helplessness, sense of being alone in a crowd of purpose driven populace.

Among this week’s wonderful collection, so many of the poems applicable to anywhere in the world, it was good to know that we’re able to blot out our city, man-made noises and hear nature speaking. Particularly lovely – and there were several more in the same vein – I enjoyed the following three, each of them familiar yet with a surprise twist in the last line:
.
on the sidewalk
the echo of the rain —
soft applause
Alessandra Delle Fratte, Rome, Italy
.
old receipts
in front of the shop window
dry leaves
Angiola Inglese
.
and
.
Quai des Orfèvres –
a musette waltz
of raindrops
Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo
.
Thank you Kathy for accepting my contribution.

Thanks, Kathy and poets, for this fascinating sampling of sound.
.
Found myself saluting our multi-lingual world in Christine Earles’ Paris street with
.
“only two people talking / in French,”
.
with Lori Zajkowski’s
.
on the sidewalk
so many languages
I don’t understand
.
and Pat Davis’ vendor who “thanks… / in his language”

Felt familiarity in Barbara Tate’s “underfoot / the squeak of last night’s / snow”
.
and Anthony Raban’s “hard-starting engine”
.
Started to hum along with Sudan Rogers’
.
remembering
Gene Kelly in the rain
.
Wanted to cover my ears not only at Valentina Ranaldi-Adams’ and Sari Grandstaff’s jackhammerers (in the latter case with “beeping trucks”)
.
but also with Tim Heaney’s “sidewalk minstrel” marvelously
.
whistling loudly
off key to no known tune
.
Nuky Kristijono’s “beggar with harmonica…out of tune”
.
and Pauline O’Carolan’s “urban ibis /scrape of beak/ on metal bin”
.
Loved the sheer poetry in Molly Hogan’s
.
Indifferent footsteps pass
the weight of a sigh,
.
Debbi Antebi’s
.
overhearing the whisper
of a sycamore tree
.
Craig Kittner’s rain water “finding/ its way to the street”
.
and Alan Summers’ “cold queue sigh.”

Even in noisy downtown areas, one can experience silent moments of connection. arvinder’s “the silent eloquence” and Debbi’s “sidewalk cafe” capture this beautifully. The feel of separation from the hubbub as you focus on some emanation from nature. Nice bit of subtle humor from arvinder as well. I know I have been honked at when I lost myself staring at the sunset. Nice work all around. Have a great week, everyone!

An intriguing take, Craig, “separation from the hubbub” something I frequently desire..

Wonderful that you can lose yourself — or do you find yourself? —
when “staring at a sunset.”.
.
Good to see that, as Ingrid Baluchi says in her commentary, “we’re able to blot out our city, [human-made] noises and hear nature speaking.”
.
Both of you seem to have something of the contemplative in yourselves.

Thanks Kathy for selecting these haiku and for including mine! Christine Eales’s is a great take on our multilingual cities. Really “heard” that one too. And Deborah Kolodji’s I particularly liked as well.

Hi Kathy, I like the way you asked us to think of the selected poems as ones that echo. Here’s what I heard in the echoes of two featured poems. Roberta Beary’s “hopscotch” brought me back to simpler times when moms stayed home and sidewalks were safe and clean. There were so many sidewalk games in the past! Then, Christine Eales’s “busy street in Paris” could refer to any of the popular city destinations where many of the locals stay away from the “touristy” streets. Of course, the shopkeepers must be multi-lingual to understand all the foreigners who spend their money there! I also thought of my home city of Boston where you didn’t hear much English being spoken in the many ethnic neighborhoods.

A few words about one of the poems from the rest of the column. Aalix Roake’s “nighttime city stroll” made me think of a walker who was very brave to be out alone on a city street at night, and was faced with a fear that she/he was being pursued from behind. Could it be a purse-snatcher?, Maybe, though, the walker sped up simply to avoid being bumped into. Maybe the follower was just a jogger who would have whizzed past without incident.

As usual, a wonderful collection of haiku! I am very happy to have mine included. My favourites are too many to list. I’ll just mention two that, in unique ways, show the wide range of sound intensity from soft to deafening:

Another marvellous selection, Kathy, well done to all poets.
So many to choose from-
.
night time city stroll
footsteps behind
speed me up
.
Aalix Roake
This just sends shivers down the spine. A nice bit of unease with this one.
.
shopping downtown
Christmas carols piped out
to the sidewalk
.
Deborah P Kolodji
Love it or hate it there’s no getting away from it 🙂
.
overhearing
phrases on my walk—
found poetry
.
John S Green
It never fails to amaze me the wonderful words people come out with, and don’t even realise it.
.
sidewalk café
eavesdropping
at the next table
.
Margaret Walker
This made me smile as its a case of ‘guilty as charged’ I just cant help myself. Lovely work.
.
Wonderful verse everyone.

For me it was my mother’s yell from down the block for dinner, but the emotion is the same.

And two years after a cross country move to a new life, I am still searching for friends and connections, and Ruth Powell captures that stunningly with,

city sidewalk
no one
calling my name

Wow.

Barbara Tate’s “squeak of last night’s snow” took me back to a late late walk in NYC when the city was mostly asleep.

There are some great senryu in this collection (methinks)… so many little points of humanity. I smiled broadly at Susan Roger’s “remembering Gene Kelly in the rain I start to hum” having just recently watched my 10 year old belt out that iconic verse on a wet day.
m.shane pruett
Salem, OR

Thank you so much for mentioning my poem. So much appreciated. I just printed this issue out and look forward to an evening of good reading. I used to live in Ohio and definitely miss the squeak of snow!!

Wonderful read today!Thankful to have my haiku among so many different verses. I find that I am visiting many different sidewalks and learning so much. Such vivid imagery and depiction of the sense of hearing. A few ku that popped out at me today. Lots of different noises from songs to bird songs, horns honking,jackhammers and much more.

birdsong stops
at the corner
a jackhammer

Sidney Bending
Victoria, BC, Canad

I can hear the stop and start of the birdsong and jack hammer or maybe it is just the jackhammer noise masks the birdsong both harmonious in their own way and of course depicts the human and natural made noises one hears often when out on a sidewalk.

remembering
Gene Kelly in the rain
I start to hum

Susan Rogers
Los Angeles, CA, USA

“singing in the rain” what a wonderful image that you have brought to life and a song that replays in my mind the minute I read your haiku Susan!

Thanks KJ for including mine. I think my favourite was Radhamani sarma’s
.
improvised cradle
jingling with bells,
she asks for alms
.
which not only conjures up a poignant vision but also a soundtrack to go with it.

Dear Kathy, warm greetings! So many vibrant voices, we could hear and enjoy, so many approaches. Always bow before your meticulous care. Delighted to see mine,thanks for including the same. Of many wonderful haiku, this one is my immediate .